Google Brings New Accessibility Apps to Android - Thurrott.com

Google today announced two useful new accessibility apps for Android aimed at the deaf and hard-of-hearing.

“We believe in the power of technology to help break down barriers and make life a little easier for everyone,” Google’s Brian Kemler writes. “Today, we’re introducing two new apps for Android designed to help deaf and hard-of-hearing people: Live Transcribe and Sound Amplifier.”

Live Transcribe works like the live captioning you see on TV, but is interactive: It translates live speech to on-screen text in over 70 languages and dialects, enabling two-way speech via a type-back keyboard for those who don’t wish to (or can’t) speak. Live Transcribe is rolling out today in a limited beta worldwide, and is preinstalled on Pixel 3 handsets. You can sign-up to be notified when it’s more broadly available.

Sound Amplifier works with wired headphones to filter, augment and amplify the sounds in your environment. It pumps up the volume of quiet sounds while not over-boosting loud sounds. And you can customize it to your needs, applying noise reduction to minimize distracting background noise. This app is available now in the Play Store for Android handsets running version 9 or newer, and it comes preinstalled on Pixel 3 handsets.

“With both Live Transcribe and Sound Amplifier, our goal is to help the hundreds of millions of people who are deaf or hard of hearing communicate more clearly,” Kemler continues.

Given my experience with my deaf son, who uses cochlear implants, lip-reading, and sign language to communicate with others, I can tell you that these apps—unlike certain misguided Microsoft accessibility efforts, like Cortana screeching during Windows Setup—address real-world problems that impact many, many people. And that they are, thus, both well-intentioned and truly useful. Bravo, Google.

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